President Barack Obama and President Rene Preval of Haiti return to the Oval Office, following their remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House, March 10, 2010.

The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan has thanked Donal O’Connor for his work as chairman and executive chairman of Anglo Irish Bank at "a time of great challenge for the bank and the financial system generally": “Mr. O’Connor has worked tirelessly to help stabilise the bank and introduce a new management team to lead it in the future. He also instigated the restructuring plan that was submitted to the EU Commission last year.

I greatly appreciate his dedication to his work at the bank and his steadfast support of the Government’s efforts to stabilise the banking system. I know how onerous and demanding his role was over the last year and I am greatly indebted to him for his important contribution. I will be appointing Alan Dukes as Chairman to replace Donal. As a member of the Board, Alan has been intimately involved in the bank since it was nationalised. His appointment will ensure continuity as the bank charts its future. I know Alan will bring his keen intelligence and application to the task. I will be making further appointments to the board in the near future.”

Lehman Brothers used off-balance-sheet transactions to reduce its leverage in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses, a bankruptcy examiner’s report published on Thursday said.

Lehman "repeatedly exceeded its own internal risk limits and controls" and a wide range of bad calls by its management led to the bank's failure, the report says. The conduct of Lehman executives "ranged from serious but non-culpable errors of business judgment to actionable balance sheet manipulation," the report by examiner Anton Valukas says. Valukas was appointed in January of last year to examine the causes of Lehman's failure by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Examiner reports

HSBC's Swiss wealth management operation, which is based in Geneva, has confirmed the theft of a CD containing information on 24,000 clients, mainly from France.

When the French authorities acquired the CD in December, HSBC originally had said the data concerned only a very small number of people.

Economic View; Results season – In search of the inflection point: Goodbody chief economist, Dermot O'Leary comments: "Corporates representing 75% of the market capitalisation of the ISEQ have reported over the past six weeks. The results reflect somewhat of a turning point in terms of expectations for Irish quoted companies. Out of 17 companies, there have been nine upgrades to FY10 forecasts (with four unchanged). This represents a significant turnaround from the extended period of forecast downgrades for Irish companies over the past two years. In the Spring 2009 results season, there were only two upgrades, while there were eleven downgrades. Could this be the start of the earnings upgrade cycle for Irish corporates?

The results suggest that Irish companies have proven themselves adept in the area of cost savings, with seven companies reporting costs that beat expectations pertaining in October 2009, with nine coming in in-line. Top-line trends have not been as impressive, with operating revenues outperforming expectations in only three instances, while undershooting in seven. We are still in search of that key inflection point. Significant uncertainty remains around the outlook for the Irish financials, as reflected in the continued downward movement in EPS forecasts over the past six months. However, EPS forecasts for the industrial stocks have risen over this time period, with material upward forecast revisions for CRH and Grafton, for example. Do the results tell us anything about Ireland Inc.? In line with our forecasts for the Irish economy, Irish revenue growth trends, although still deeply in negative territory due to the depth of the domestic recession, have eased in the past six months.

Of the 13 companies that we have reliable data on Irish revenue trends, all reported better year-on-year trends in H2 2009, with revenue growth going from -33% in H1 to -16% in H2. This is consistent with the fact that the contraction in the Irish economy reached its most intense period at the start of 2009. As a result, these companies will have easier year-on-year comps to deal with in Ireland in H1 2010, meaning that further positive momentum is likely to be seen. The domestic environment is still very challenging, particularly for the banking and construction sectors, but commentary from the corporates in the latest results season indicate that the precipitous falls that were witnessed in 2009 have started to ease. Important issues such as the recapitalisation of the banking system over the next few months will have a large bearing on the trajectory of any economic upturn."

Economic View; Irish rental market approaching stabilisation? Goodbody economist, Deirdre Ryan, comments: "With the downturn in the Irish housing market into its fourth year at this stage, some signs of stabilisation might be expected. The rental sector appears to be showing the first signs of this according to the latest trends in rents. Rental data from the CSO show rents declined by a modest 1% in the three months to February, the slowest rate of decline seen in seven quarters (since Q2 08). On an annual basis, rents were down 14% yoy, and have now fallen 25% from peak levels.

Given that, the rate of rental decline continues to ease and indeed the movement in the latest data is so modest, it does appear that there is little to go in terms of further rental falls. This is also apparent in light of the recent report from Daft.ie which pointed to a slight increase in rents in January (+1.5% mom after a 26% peak to trough fall). While we remain sceptical on the prospects for rental increases in the near term, its does, nonetheless, appear that a stabilisation point has now been reached in terms of rental levels and that our 30% peak to trough decline looks overly pessimistic at this stage.

So what does this mean for rental yields? Following yesterday’s data, we estimate the rental yield stands at 4.3% up from 4% in Q409. On the basis of a 30% peak to trough rental decline the rental yield would have adjusted to 4.7% Q4 11. However, assuming rents remain at their current level, this would see a 4.7% rental yield reached by Q4 10, while it would rise further to 4.9% by the end of 2011, holding our other assumptions constant (ie a 42% decline in house prices from peak levels as reported by the permanent tsb index, which is currently down 31% from its peak). However, it is likely that the rental yield will adjust further beyond this level, which, assuming no further change in rents, implies further falls in terms of house prices.

Were the rental yield to adjust to 5.5% (its level at the turn of the decade), this would necessitate close to a 50% peak to trough fall in house prices. Anecdotal and estate agent reports have indicated house price declines close to this magnitude have occurred, but principally in the Dublin region. Rents may be showing initial signs of stabilisation, however, our rental yield metrics indicate there is further to go in terms of house price reductions."

CNBC's John Harwood highlights Sen. Chris Dodd's plans to unveil his financial regulation reform bill:

US household net worth rises again, but at a slower pace: Davy chief economist, Rossa White, comments -- "US household net worth rose for a third straight quarter in Q4 2009, albeit at a slower pace than in Q2 or Q3. Net worth increased by $683bn compared with Q3, driven mainly by further gains in financial assets. Debts were not repaid at a rapid pace. House prices seem to be stabilising, and net equity in real estate rose as a result. A combination of further de-leveraging, gains in financial assets and eventually house price inflation will boost net worth in the year ahead. In turn, consumer spending will benefit.